When Should Your Child Be Given Screen Time?
When Should Your Child Be Given Screen Time?
In today’s world, screens are everywhere! With technological advancements, no adult could think of a life without desktops, mobiles and even television sets. Parents also use technology such as a mobile tracker to monitor their kids' screen time and protect them from nuances.
However, if children should be given screen time is still a hot debatable topic.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) suggested more studies are required to understand the cognitive and behavioral risk of screen time on children's’ brain development.
The Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) conducted a study where children between the ages of three and five were more exposed to prolonged screen time than recommended. According to their study, it had a significant impact on their brain development.
So, when should children be allowed screen time? Well, exposing your kids to screen time depends on how old they are.
Screen Time For Infants
Infants should strictly be kept away from the screens. Why? Because children under 5 years and especially younger than two years have brain’s neural networks development going on.
Additionally, it is best for infants if language, literacy skills, sound hearing skills, etc, should be learned through personal contact and not by any device.
Screen Time For Toddlers
When your baby turns two, it can start learning words from people and online streams on a device. However, studies show that learning via a device is only effective when someone re-teaches the content to them.
However, before the age of three, toddlers shouldn’t be allowed a lot of screen time. In fact, for three to five years, you can give screen time of an hour every day to your toddler.
Moreover, you should be careful in deciding which app you want to expose to your 2-5 years old child.
Screen Time For School Going Kids and Adolescents
An extended amount of screen time can hamper the sleep cycle of school-going kids and teenagers. However, at this age, a little screen time is essential for both academics, learning and entertainment purposes.
This is why you allow your school-going and teenage kids two-hour screen time every day. This excludes the time they spend on screens for homework.
You should encourage your kids to stay active for 15 minutes for every hour they spend on screens. This will help balance it.
However, some parents use a phone tracker to help their school-going kids and teenagers stay away from negatively impacting apps/sites. This mobile tracker free app also helps the parents to save their kids from strangers sending them unsolicited messages.